And it's adiós to Spain. If Switzerland go through tonight I can't even begin to imagine how exciting that QF might be
Lets Talk Football
Not taking Thiago Alcantara was a stupid decision in hindsight. I have lost count of the times I have seen him opening up teams in the final third. Not necessarily always an assist, but also a pass leading up to it.
Also, he is hugely experienced. Spain could have used that.
Of course I am delighted he is rested instead, cause he is also fragile.
Also, he is hugely experienced. Spain could have used that.
Of course I am delighted he is rested instead, cause he is also fragile.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Croatia v Brazil
Netherlands v Argentina
Morocco v Portugal
England v France
Netherlands v Argentina
Morocco v Portugal
England v France
__________________
[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Croatia v Brazil
Netherlands v Argentina
Morocco v Portugal
England v France
Netherlands v Argentina
Morocco v Portugal
England v France
__________________
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.
Not taking Thiago Alcantara was a stupid decision in hindsight. I have lost count of the times I have seen him opening up teams in the final third. Not necessarily always an assist, but also a pass leading up to it.
Also, he is hugely experienced. Spain could have used that.
Also, he is hugely experienced. Spain could have used that.
I'm guessing Santos will have less trouble explaining to Ronaldo why he's not starting in the quarter final.
__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.
5-time MoFo Award winner.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Are the countries in bold your predicted winners? If so, I agree. Let me edit this: France will probably beat England.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Those are my predictions. I just think England will reach the final.
It feels like everyone will lose to Brazil atm. Of course, it felt like that in 82, too. It does feel, atm, though that the semi between Brazil and Argentina is the defacto final.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
I think favorites to win are:
1. France
2. Brazil
3. England
4. Portugal
5. Argentina
1. France
2. Brazil
3. England
4. Portugal
5. Argentina
Last edited by Tugg; 12-09-22 at 12:57 AM.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Croatia through on pens to upset Brazil. Not sure Neymar can believe it.
A Croatia-Argentina semi would be interesting ..... could be anything from a decent game of football to one of the biggest kicking sessions going
A Croatia-Argentina semi would be interesting ..... could be anything from a decent game of football to one of the biggest kicking sessions going
Anybody but Argentina for me, after their behaviour during the Dutch match. I know the Dutch weren't particularly angels themselves, but that was horrible from both the sides.
England should be proud of their performance against France.
Ideally I want Croatia to win this.
England should be proud of their performance against France.
Ideally I want Croatia to win this.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
No great love of Argentina but I think it would be nice for Messi to win a world cup.
__________________
You are vile.
Greatest volleyball player maybe..
Last edited by John-Connor; 12-12-22 at 11:30 AM.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Anybody but Argentina for me, after their behaviour during the Dutch match. I know the Dutch weren't particularly angels themselves, but that was horrible from both the sides.
England should be proud of their performance against France.
Ideally I want Croatia to win this.
England should be proud of their performance against France.
Ideally I want Croatia to win this.
It feels like everyone will lose to Brazil atm. Of course, it felt like that in 82, too. It does feel, atm, though that the semi between Brazil and Argentina is the defacto final.
While football is unpredictable, so you cannot say losing a match means the team is bad, but Brazil had had an issue over the past 5-world-cups in that they systematically got eliminated by teams in elimination rounds that before the match they were not expected to lose. In the case of Belgium in 2018 and Croatia now, it certainly looks like Brazil lost both rounds at the strategic level. In the case of Germany in 2014, that was also true (although that match is a weird case of the nervous breakdown of a team, the management of the team was certainly inept before the nervous breakdown happened).
So I think that the issue is that Brazilian managers are outdated compared to European managers. While the Seleção has tons of great players, there is a lack of Brazilian managers operating at the highest level since they only manage teams in Brazil.
A few decades ago, that was not an issue because the Brazilian league was not much worse than the big European leagues (the 1994 Seleção, which won the world cup, for instance, had more than half of its players playing in Brazil at the time), so Brazilian managers had experience with football close to the highest level.
Now, as a massive technical gap opened up over the past 30 years between the Brazilian league and the Premier League and La Liga, we still have a manager of the Seleção who had a career managing Brazilian teams which play much inferior level than Barcelona or Bayern, after which they managed the Seleção playing with much worse teams like South Korea, which makes their job appear easy. Then comes the first effective opposition, like Croatia, and they don't know what to do because they have never managed high-level football before.
X
Favorite Movies
X
User Lists
Then Croatia came...
While football is unpredictable, so you cannot say losing a match means the team is bad, but Brazil had had an issue over the past 5-world-cups in that they systematically got eliminated by teams in elimination rounds that before the match they were not expected to lose. In the case of Belgium in 2018 and Croatia now, it certainly looks like Brazil lost both rounds at the strategic level. In the case of Germany in 2014, that was also true (although that match is a weird case of the nervous breakdown of a team, the management of the team was certainly inept before the nervous breakdown happened).
So I think that the issue is that Brazilian managers are outdated compared to European managers. While the Seleção has tons of great players, there is a lack of Brazilian managers operating at the highest level since they only manage teams in Brazil.
A few decades ago, that was not an issue because the Brazilian league was not much worse than the big European leagues (the 1994 Seleção, which won the world cup, for instance, had more than half of its players playing in Brazil at the time), so Brazilian managers had experience with football close to the highest level.
Now, as a massive technical gap opened up over the past 30 years between the Brazilian league and the Premier League and La Liga, we still have a manager of the Seleção who had a career managing Brazilian teams which play much inferior level than Barcelona or Bayern, after which they managed the Seleção playing with much worse teams like South Korea, which makes their job appear easy. Then comes the first effective opposition, like Croatia, and they don't know what to do because they have never managed high-level football before.
While football is unpredictable, so you cannot say losing a match means the team is bad, but Brazil had had an issue over the past 5-world-cups in that they systematically got eliminated by teams in elimination rounds that before the match they were not expected to lose. In the case of Belgium in 2018 and Croatia now, it certainly looks like Brazil lost both rounds at the strategic level. In the case of Germany in 2014, that was also true (although that match is a weird case of the nervous breakdown of a team, the management of the team was certainly inept before the nervous breakdown happened).
So I think that the issue is that Brazilian managers are outdated compared to European managers. While the Seleção has tons of great players, there is a lack of Brazilian managers operating at the highest level since they only manage teams in Brazil.
A few decades ago, that was not an issue because the Brazilian league was not much worse than the big European leagues (the 1994 Seleção, which won the world cup, for instance, had more than half of its players playing in Brazil at the time), so Brazilian managers had experience with football close to the highest level.
Now, as a massive technical gap opened up over the past 30 years between the Brazilian league and the Premier League and La Liga, we still have a manager of the Seleção who had a career managing Brazilian teams which play much inferior level than Barcelona or Bayern, after which they managed the Seleção playing with much worse teams like South Korea, which makes their job appear easy. Then comes the first effective opposition, like Croatia, and they don't know what to do because they have never managed high-level football before.
Hope so. I'd love to see the best player of all time lift the cup.
X
Favorite Movies
X